Chapter 121: Reunion with the Rotbringer—Strike!

The crowd, brimming with excitement, surged through the city gates and into the narrow streets, filling the air with clamor.

A putrid stench followed them into this sanctuary.

This was a battle of ideologies, one which merchants and politicians observed with indifference.

Even before, the establishment of the Ivy Academy outside the city had their financial backing.

The people had long forsaken religions demanding asceticism and devotion. The dwindling number of believers whispered in the shadows, their gazes aimless.

Archbishop Mazer stood silently atop the Obelisk Square, offering his final, silent rebuttal.

The tide had turned; all he could hope for now was a peaceful end to the divine relics.

He was mistaken.

"Hush, be quiet," a sinister voice whispered beside him.

Frozen, the Archbishop couldn't turn back.

"You're already dead, my dear," the voice cooed.

A twisted finger brushed against his neck, leaving a thin line of blood.

"You should know the truth; you'll be the first to know."

"Because you're a delightful little harbinger of doom."

"Don't cry, don't cry."

The voice turned cold.

"Everything is fated."

Mazer blinked for the last time—

A stone hurled from the crowd struck his forehead.

He fell, trampled by the crowd.

The Rebel Prophet was escorted onto a high platform.

The towering black obelisk stood indifferent.

"Today, we end all of this!"

"Let the light of science guide our civilization!"

Reibo operated machinery, aiming for the obelisk—

The machinery, incapable of destroying necrotechnology, seemed to gain the strength of a thousand, creating an unignorable crack in the flawless geometric stone.

Past grudges and resentments lay buried beneath the earth.

Yet those who set foot here remained oblivious.

The Protectorate Army had just reached the edge of the vast square when a sudden anomaly occurred.

The rotten smell pervaded the air, reaching every nose.

Sage Kirkland stared in disbelief at his psychic detector; the needle frantically oscillating as if trying to break its threshold.

Suddenly, a bell tolled from the woods, fog wafted in, birds fell screeching from the sky, and moss and fungi emerged from the cracks in the stones. A yellow, stinking fog instantly enveloped the entire city.

Pus, blood, and vomit seeped from the ground, piling up around people's ankles in an instant.

The entire square seemed to boil.

Maggots wriggled, frenziedly climbing up people's legs. Those of the Protectorate Army without high-level mechanized legs were instantly consumed by these maggots and drowned in the foul sludge.

"Screams and shattered electronic sounds erupted from the mire."

In this bizarre scene, something even logic engines couldn't foresee, most of the Protectorate Army didn't even have time to react. They panicked, trying to pull their comrades out of the mud.

"Run!"

"Use fire! Retreat!"

"Damn, it's a trap!"

A shout tore through the toxic air. Hades grabbed Jin, who was about to sink into the flesh-mire, and hurled him out of the square.

At the same time, Hades switched to a flamethrower and aimed it at the wriggling maggots.

Roused by Hades' commands, the Protectorate Army hastily took out their weapons. Utilizing the flames, they cleared the maggots surrounding them to prevent themselves from sinking into the mud.

Under the firelight, a path leading away from the flesh-mire was instantly cleared.

People quickly moved out of the range of the flesh-mire. Hades stood at the end of the line, trying to find the epicenter of this aberration.

The maggots and flesh temporarily halted their expansion. Their wriggling visibly slowed down. Except for a few Protectorate soldiers who were initially dragged underground, the entire team suffered no other losses.

Grinding his teeth, Hades now understood the situation clearly.

It's a damn trap!

Looking at the current scene, if it's not a pitfall, Hades would eat his words!

While cursing inwardly, Hades started thinking rapidly.

He glanced at Sage Kirkland beside him, who seemed to be stuck.

If he wasn't wrong, the backup forces from the forest and the shuttle had already started fighting.

They had lost contact with them.

Hades just hoped that the distress signal he had asked the Mecha-Sage to send had been received. But now, if the target really wanted his life—

Damn it!

Clearly, they had to fend for themselves.

Moreover, with just the infantry of the Protectorate Army, heavy firepower backup couldn't arrive here any time soon.

Once again, Hades attempted to contact other teams. The good news was that aside from the Protectorate Army in the square, other Protectorate Army teams exploring the city hadn't been attacked.

However, the stagnant flesh-mire and blood-water began to boil again. They spread across the entire square, boiling like a pot of porridge.

A huge fly leg extended out of the flesh-mire, covered in barbed spines like hooks.

Then came the second, the third...

Soon, the Rotbringer stood in the middle of the square.

With a body the size of three or four horses, the Rotbringer's fly body connected to a half-rotted human torso. Its swollen head had enormous fly compound eyes bursting out of it.

The Rotbringer held a whip made of vines and muscles, its fly barbs gleaming in a greenish-purple light.

Maggots crawled over it, swarms of black flies buzzing around it, and the Filth Spirit laughed shrilly.

"Long time no see, Hades."

It spoke.

"I'm pleased to meet you."

The Rotbringer looked happily at the stunned Mecha-Sage and the Protectorate Army, rubbing its hands together.

It had already won.

In the forest, the army of the believers had already crushed any chance of their escape and was moving towards them.

"Don't be afraid, you can commit suicide," the Rotbringer said, confident of its victory. If it could persuade Hades to surrender or personally slay him, the Benevolent Father would bestow upon it even more favor.

Hades remained silent, pulling out his obituary while aiming his gun directly at the Rotbringer.

"Bang! Hum!"

The bombs were blocked by the dense swarm of flies around the Rotbringer, causing an explosion of fire that didn't harm the Rotbringer at all.

"It seems negotiations have failed," said the Rotbringer.

The fly wings on its back flapped vigorously, and the gigantic fly took to the sky!

Behind the Rotbringer, more and more flies crawled out of the flesh-mire, each the size of a horse.

The flies rapidly flew towards them.

Corrosive poison sprayed towards them from a distance.

"Find cover, fire!"

Scattered gunfire rang out, and the electro-rifles began to work.

Wrong?!

Unlike the always-aware Hades, those around him had no concept of the scene before them.

Many of the Protectorate Army had already begun to break down mentally. Fear spread, their gun-wielding hands shaking. Hades immediately decided to use the management code given by Sage Kirkland to replace the autonomous behavior of the Protectorate Army. Fire rained down in torrents.

Under Hades' command, the Protectorate Army retreated into the alleys, shooting from behind the cover of the buildings.

"What the hell is that?!"

Sage Kirkland was clearly terrified by the current situation. He trembled nonstop, light smoke wafting from his red robe. He looked like he wanted to vomit but couldn't since he lacked organs like a stomach.